Portugal Masters 2017 - Oceanico Victoria Clube de Golfe

Villamoura, Algarve is the setting for this weeks European Tour event where Pádraig Harrington will defend the Portugal Masters title. A resort course where birdies are the order of the week, the list of winners here suggest big hitting, wind liking players will prevail come Sunday.

I put up George Coetzee on the shortlist for last week in Spijk but didn't include him the staking plan, but his T-3rd result emphasized his return to form this season and he now has 6 TOP-10s and a further 2 TOP20s from his 19 starts. Through in this recent form with solid course form here, the South African is a bet @ 34.00

Thorbjorn Olesen represents a bit of value too @ 22.00. The Dane has no course form to boast of but I cant ignore his form this season. 16/17 with 4 TOP10s (5 TOP20s), Olesen hasn't missed a cut since May at Wentworth, and tees it up having had the last three weeks off. Class player who has the ability to see off this field will be anxious to get some Ryder Cup points in the bag here.

Richard Sterne is another I cannot ignore this week @ 50.00 He may not have won since 2013, but the 36 year old can boast decent results of late to climb to 67 in the R2D and 108 in the OWGR. Those numbers should be an incentive to improve on before the season concludes. Three TOP20s in his last 5 starts came out last week's KLM Open (9th), European Open (19th) and Scottish Open (19th). He was 28th at the PGA Championship.

Join Playon here and get free entry using code "BIRDIE" on this weeks DFS games

Selections:

3.00 pts G. Coetzee @ 34.00
4.50 pts T. Olesen @ 22.00
1.25 pts e/w R.Sterne @ 50.00

KLM Open 2017 - The Dutch GC, Spijk, Holland

Local hero, Joost Luiten looks to defend his National title again at The Dutch GC this week and he showed in his recent outing that he's coming into form at the right time to do so. He won the first of his two National Opens in 2013 and followed up with a TOP-5 twelve months later  at Kennemer GC. He'll be joined in the field this week by players looking to save their card and playing privileges for next season as well as market leaders, Bernd Wiesberger , Ross Fisher, Lee Westwood, Julian Suri, Andy Sullivan to name but a few. Fisher & Westwood are both former winners of the title. Another former winner, Peter Hanson, also showing a return to form of late, joins twice winner Simon Dyson, who looks to find something to re-ignite his career after a difficult time on tour the past 4 years following that incident in Abu Dhabi. The Englishman has arguably the best Dutch form in this week's field having won twice (at two different courses) as well as a runner up in 2014 to Paul Casey and a 3rd place finish in 2013, where he tied alongside Ross Fisher. The event has seen a number of multiple winners, and also a number of high profile winners over the years.

It's been a decent season, so far, for Ross Fisher who is 10/15 with 6 TOP-20s, 5 of which were TOP-10s and 2 of those were TOP-5. 3rd at the WGC in Mexico being the highlight of the season so far but Ross can boast solid performances in much better company when finishing 7th at Golf National in France, and 9th at Wentworth last May. Form has dipped a bit of late having missed the cut last week in Crans and at Quail Hollow last month but the former KLM Open winner as mentioned already should be liking The Dutch this week. He was 45th here last year and can boast solid form in The Netherlands to complement that win in 2007 with a further 4 TOP-20s in his 8 visits since. Currently inside the TOP-10 in The Race to Dubai, Fisher will look to kick on towards the Series Finale as well as gather some Ryder Cup points. Hes well worth a bet here @ 34.00

Nacho Elvira can point to a decent season of golf having produced 5 TOP-20s from his 20 starts. 6th & 11th in the Middle East indicates he can play in the wind but it's his last 3 starts that provide the confidence that he could be in for a good week where he has finished 12-19-20 at European Open, Made in Denmark and last week's European Masters. He tied alongside Ross Fisher in 45th place last year at The Dutch, so has the course experience under his belt. He had 6 TOP10s last season so is finding his way on Tour and could be ready to strike for a win that is becoming an inevitably. The Spaniard is worth a bet here @ 51.00 especially with 6 places on offer with Paddypower.

Jens Fahrbring has similar 2017 form to Elvira in that he's also 12/20 with 5 TOP-20s. 5th in Hamburg last month and 18th in Prague two weeks ago suggest he's in decent form despite a missed cut in between in Denmark. Given hes 5/20 in TOP-20s this season (25%)  the price of 8.00 to grab another here is appealing as he makes a push to improve on his R2D position of 110.

Selections
1.00 pts e/w R. Fisher @ 34.00
0.75 pts e/w N.Elvira @ 51.00
6.50 pts TOP-20 J. Fahrbring @ 8.00